Granted Patent B1

US 7,995,738 · App. 12/869,839 · Granted Aug 9, 2011

Assignee: IntelePeer, Inc.

Abstract

Claims (58)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a telecommunications peering network, a first call offer for a call destined for a telephone number;

querying a peering database to determine if the telephone number is assigned to a peering partner of the telecommunications peering network;

determining that the telephone number is assigned to a first peering partner;

providing a second call offer for the call to the first peering partner;

receiving a destination unreachable response from the first peering partner regarding the second call offer;

providing a third call offer for the call to a public telecommunications network; and

receiving a cause code from the public telecommunications network indicating whether the call can be routed;

wherein each of the receiving, querying, determining, and providing steps are implemented by a processing unit at the telecommunications peering network, the processing unit configured to access instructions from a memory device and execute the instructions to achieve each of said steps.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a destination unreachable response from the first peering partner further comprises:

querying a local number portability database regarding the telephone number; and

receiving a response from the local number portability database indicating that the telephone number has, not been ported.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein querying the local number portability database comprises performing an LNP dip operation; and

receiving a response from the local number portability database indicating that the telephone number has not been ported includes:

receiving a local routing number from the local number portability database, and

comparing the received local routing number to a cached local routing number,

wherein

the local routing number matching the cached local routing number indicates that the telephone number has not been ported.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein, if the cause code indicates that the call can be routed, the telephone number is removed from the peering database.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the cause code is one of a normal setup indication or a line busy indication.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein, if the cause code, indicates that the call cannot be routed, the telephone number is maintained within the peering database.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the cause code includes one of the following causes: bad request, unauthorized, forbidden, not found, method not allowed, not acceptable, request timeout, conflict, gone, bad extension, temporarily not available, call leg does not exist, transaction does not exist, does not exist anywhere, no route to destination, no route to specified transit network, or unallocated number.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination unreachable response includes one of the following causes: bad request, unauthorized, forbidden, not, found, method not allowed, not, acceptable, request timeout, conflict, gone, bad extension, temporarily not available, call leg does not exist, transaction does not exist, does not exist anywhere, no route to destination, no route to specified transit network, or unallocated, number.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination unreachable response is included within a Session Initiation Protocol message, a Signaling System Number 7 protocol Message, a Q.931 protocol message, of a H.323 protocol message.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cause code is included within a Session Initiation Protocol message, a Signaling System Number 7 protocol message, a Q.931 protocol message, or a H.323, protocol message.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the public telecommunications network is a public switched telephone network.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the call offer includes receiving the call offer from a public switched telephone network.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the peering partner is one of a telecommunications carrier or a third party telecommunications carrier.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the peering partner is a business enterprise, educational campus, or government enterprise.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the peering partner is an internet service provider or application service provider.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the peering partner is an individual.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising, if the cause code indicates that the call can be routed, contacting the individual to request updated routing information, wherein the contacting is implemented by the processing unit at the telecommunications peering network.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, at a telecommunications peering network, a first call offer for a call destined for a telephone number;

querying a peering database to determine if the telephone number is assigned to a peering partner of the telecommunications peering network;

determining that the telephone number is assigned to a first peering partner;

providing a second call offer for the call to the first peering partner;

receiving a destination unreachable message from the first peering partner regarding the second call offer;

querying a local number portability database regarding the telephone number;

receiving a response from the local number portability database indicating that the telephone number has been ported;

removing the telephone number from the peering database;

providing a third call offer for the call to a public telecommunications network;

receiving a cause code from the public telecommunications network indicating whether the call can be routed;

wherein each of the receiving, querying determining, providing, and removing steps are implemented by a processing unit at the telecommunications peering network, the processing unit configured to access instructions from a memory device and execute the instructions to achieve each of said steps.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein querying the local number portability database comprises performing an LNP dip operation; and

receiving a response from the local number portability database indicating that the telephone number has not been potted includes:

receiving a local routing number from the local number portability database, and

comparing the received local routing number to a cached local routing number, wherein

the local routing number differing from the cached local routing number indicates that the telephone number has been ported.

20. A system comprising:

means for receiving a call offer at a telecommunications peering network for a call destined for a telephone number;

means for determining whether the telephone number is assigned to a peering partner;

means for switching the call offer to a peering partner switch;

means for receiving a destination unreachable response from the peering partner switch;

means for determining whether or not the telephone number has been ported to a new local routing number;

means for transferring the call offer to a public telecommunications network;

means for receiving a response from the public telecommunications network regarding the success or failure a the transferred call offer; and

upon receipt of a success response, means for removing the telephone number from a collection of peer telephone numbers.

Assignments (18)

Continuity (1)